Ferengi Business

July 16, 2004 | 1 Minute Read

The other day, I was watching an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. And interestingly enough I actually got a business insight from the Ferengi. Now, for those of you unaware with this species in the Trek world, it’s pretty much a business driven society. They have their “Rules of Acquisition” that they live their lives by. Business is their religion (which on a side note is another post I’m working on…you’ll see) Now ultimately, when you have rules like “Employees are rungs on the ladder of success. Don’t hesitate to step on them’, or “Never be afraid to mislabel a product’ chances are you might not learn a lot of desirable ideas.

But this particular episode had to do with “The Great Material Continuum’. This is what caught my interest. The analogy of this continuum is a great river. By steering the current of commerce “The River will provide”. This particular episode dealt with trying to obtain a certain item. To obtain the item the Ferengi character had to barter items. Now, some items were “borrowed’ and there eventually became a whirlwind of ruffled feathers and nervous people. As the deadline came closer and closer the whirlwind got bigger and bigger. But the Ferengi had faith in The River. Ultimately the task got completed and everything was not only put back, but their were also improvements along the way. Now to the ah-ha. In looking back at my life and decisions I’m guilty of allowing this fear to change the course of the outcome. Now, the outcome was good because of sound decisions, but imagine what could happen with a little faith?